Author
Topic: IDEA: FillCD equivalent (Read 15846 times)

I have a folder, containing many of subfolders, all of which need burning to CDs. It is not important which folders end up on which CDs, so I would like some software to figure the best collection of folders for each CD to minimize the total number of CDs used.

There is an existing application FillCD which does exactly this!

BUT - the program is shareware, and appears to have been abandoned in late 2005. I have scoured the web for information...

The newer homepage fillcd.net has said "Sorry! The FillCD site is currently in transition. Please check back later." for months.

Some of the subpages of fillcd.net work - but the downloads bring up errors.

Registration is via email, but all contact email addresses are for the old domain, and bounce.

Emails to the new domain disappear into the inner workings of the inter-web-mega-carriageway never to be seen again.

Various posts in alt.windows.freeware over the last 12 months have not turned up any trace of the author.

I am aware of Burn to the Brim but this has more than its fair share of problems.

Perhaps someone can develop an alternative?

The requirements...

1) Accept a list of files and/or folders.2) Mix and match these (keeping folders and subfolders together) to best fit the desired medium (eg 700MB CD).3) Produce a list of files to burn to CD or possibly move the files/folders into a subfolder (eg BurnThis #1).4) Repeat until all files/folders allocated.

Since most cd burning programs allow files to be dragged and dropped from a file explorer, perhaps the most efficient interface for such a utility would be if it presented the file lists for a cd in a form that supported source-drag. in other words, the utility should present the list of files for a cd so you can simply select them and drag them to your cd burning tool.

Xplorer2 has a function that lets you mark a combination of files upto a total file size but the algorithm used is rather simplistic and can often be improved on manually. You could still use it if the file/folder sizes are relatively small, minimizing the margin for error. Perhaps some other file manager does this more intelligently.

Just tried FillCD and it's awesome! Which one of the reasons you've mentioned is really putting you off it?Reg abandonment - who cares? It's a really well done/refined app.Downloading the latest build - [3.0.4] - not a problem.Shareware - Correct me if I'm wrong but from what I've read I think it just gives you a nag screen once you're past the due date - if you genuinely cannot get in touch with the author I really don't see why you shouldn't keep using it. Donate the amount to PETA or something if it helps you sleep better.

@nosh: the biggest annoyance with FillCD is that it will only compile 3 CDs worth of stuff per run, until registered. It is a small thing I suppose, but means that I can't leave it to crunch through a whole hard-disk unattended.

Here's a screenshot of the working interface. Of course it's missing some things (and ignore the white textbox--it's for debugging), but the essentials are there. I think it's pretty intuitive, especially when you can click the buttons. Also, it has full drag-n-drop functionality (aggh, hardest part oddly enough).

Sorry, it's taking a bit longer than I expected. I'm actually a student at Duke University, and this is exam week. Once summer hits, though, at the end of next week, you can bet I'll be done quickly. Here's a screenshot of the final GUI: http://i29.tinypic.com/rljls6.png

I just need to do a bit of code cleanup and reorganization, a few additional error dialogs, building the file and folder systems, and deciding upon a name and icon.

Recently, I've also added a progress bar (pops out on bottom), a status dialog, saving solution to XML format, variable media size constraints, listview icons, a simplifying algorithm for the generated blocks, and multi-threading so progress bar updates and the app doesn't lock up when performing long operations (e.g. folder size of a folder with lots of subfolders, generating blocks for massive amounts of data). I think I've got a pretty good balance of simplicity, usability, and intuitiveness to functionality and features-ness. And yeah, that beta feedback would be much appreciated when I finish.